The Sun Sentinel reports housing starts are up in parts of Florida. "Despite all the talk about a dearth of buildable land in South Florida, Broward County recorded an increase in housing starts during the second quarter. Broward had 900 starts, up 54 percent over the second quarter of 2005, according to West Palm Beach housing analyst Brad Hunter."

"'I don't know specifically what explains it,' Hunter said. 'But land is scarce, that story hasn't changed.'"

"Broward has 2,724 finished vacant homes and homes under construction, which represents a 16-month supply of inventory. In other words, that's the amount of time it would take to fill up those homes if no others were built."

The St. Petersburg Times. "Only half as many homes were sold in Pasco County in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, figures released Tuesday by the county's property appraiser show. For the first time in five years, the county's median home sale price inched down."

"Meadow Pointe, Ballantrae and Wilderness Lake Preserve still rank among the top 10 communities for 'housing starts' in the Tampa Bay area. Pasco's annual figure for housing starts through May still shows 14 percent growth."

"'Supply has caught up with demand,' property appraiser Mike Wells said. 'When that happens, sellers have to become realistic, and what they're asking for their product. The investor has moved on. I do think that builders are probably competing with investors that they sold houses to a year ago.'"

"As prices soften, market watchers say investors are getting burned off. The number of investor homes is difficult to quantify. About a third of Pasco homes are listed as nonprimary residences. Wells said that number has grown to 30 percent currently."

The News Press. "Two out of three Floridians live in areas so risky that State Farm and regulatory loss models conclude rate increases of more than 50 percent are needed to cover losses. Realtors say Florida's housing market is suffering. Reports last week showed single-family home sales in June were down 29 percent from 2005, off by as much as 48 percent in Naples."

"Combine inflated home prices with tripled insurance premiums, and, 'My gosh, your first-time homebuyers are priced out of the market,' said Pensacola broker Dan Gullahorn."

"Rather than pay a $2,300 insurance bill, Harold Cameron has put a 'For Sale' sign in front of his St. Petersburg home. He says he'll head to Georgia, where Social Security is more likely to cover the cost of living. 'This was going to be my home when I moved here 23 years ago, but I'm not going to suffer that kind of a loss,' Cameron said."

The Miami Herald has this roundtable discussion. "Dulce Suarez-Resnick: 'Some colleagues in my office are leaving, some of my customers and even some family and friends. They are selling their home and moving to Central Florida because they can afford to live there on their fixed income.'"

"State Sen. Steven Geller: 'They're moving to North Carolina, they're moving to Georgia. They're getting out of Dodge.'"

"Heather Carruthers: 'Usually in Key West, there are about 400 homes on the market. There are 1,400 homes on the market right now. Every time you pick up the paper, the prices have been slashed.'"

"'People can't even get out now with the equity. Nobody's buying. A gentleman gave his son a house in Key West. The guy's a cop. He can't afford to stay there because his windstorm is so high.'"